Forest Restoration

Utah Forests Program

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- What Our Forests Could Be
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2601 N. Fort Valley Rd
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Phone: 928.774.7488
Fax: 928.774.7570
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Home » Utah » Forest Restoration » Actions » Reference Areas Project » Project Components

Utah Issues

Monitoring a long-term vegetation transect in South Hollow (private land) reference area for Dixie NF

What Can You Do?

Volunteer with the Grand Canyon Trust and help us extend our reach and positive influence on the ground. We need your help in 2011 with fencing two new reference areas.

Sagebrush community reference: It is rare to find sagebrush like this, with intact grasses and herbaceous, broad-leaved plants (forbs). This allotment had not been grazed for 7 years (until 2 weeks after this June 18, 200,7 photo; above Left Fork Huntington Creek, Manti-La Sal NF)

Riparian area reference: Beaver Creek flows through Cottonwood Allotment (Fishlake NF), which has not been grazed in more than 30 years. Note multi-age trees, stream shading, well-vegetated banks.

Building toward “What Our Forests Could Be”

We are moving the Forest Service toward a more professional, ecological vision for these Colorado Plateau forests, in the heart of south and central Utah.

During 2012, we will be creating photo-journalistic essays of several “reference” sites in and near the three forests that are ungrazed by livestock or grazed in an unconventional manner.

We will be completing several additional reference area MOUs with the Forest Service.
We will be measuring vegetation and perhaps pollinator activity on several reference areas and directly comparing them to measurements on comparable national forest lands that are more heavily used.

Download our “What our Forests Could Be” photo essays and reports on both accepted and proposed reference sites in or near the three forests.